This game has been a long time coming. Since Yoshi’s Island in 1995 there have been a number of competent sequels, but none of them captured that true magic. Yoshi’s Island remains one of the greatest platformers of all time not just because of its brilliant game mechanics, but the outstanding level design that took advantage of everything Yoshi could do. Furthermore, it was different to any other game at the time and made a big impact on the industry with impressive graphical effects that pushed SNES hardware to its peak. With such big shoes to fill, development team Good-Feel have taken up knitting and made some brand new fluffy shoes to climb into instead. Since Kirby’s Epic Yarn came out in 2010 they’ve done a bunch of side projects, but Yoshi’s Woolly World has been in development for all of these years and has become, by far, their biggest project yet. It’s the first time Yoshi’s visual style has really been changed up, with Yoshi’s Island DS borrowing heavily from original’s art style, and Yoshi’s Story and New Island adopting a half-arsed 3D look with no real identity. It’s also the first console Yoshi game since Yoshi’s Story on the N64, three generations ago. This woolly makeover was exactly what the Yoshi formula needed, because Yoshi’s Woolly World is an absolute triumph in game design. I got it when it launched in Australia last month, and I’ve already 100% completed it and replayed it multiple times. I love it for many reasons I didn’t expect. Not just as a worthy follow-up to Yoshi’s Island, but as an original game in 2015 that brings new ideas to the table and stands strong as an example of how much further games can be pushed.

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